Sermon Transcript: “My God, My God, Why Have You Forsaken Me?” (Missn. Sabrina Odom-Morgan)

Man was created by God, in the likeness and image of God.  We were created to serve God.  Man’s disobedience to God in the Garden of Eden allowed sin (which God abhors) to enter in and spiritually separate man from God.  Thereafter, the blood sacrifices of animals were given as atonement for our sins.  These animal sacrifices are no longer necessary because God so loved the world that he sent his son Jesus to become the sacrificial lamb for the world through the shedding of his blood on the cross that whosoever believeth on Him, repent of their sins and accept God’s will for their life by living according to the principles of the Living Word of God should not perish but have everlasting life.  Thank God for Jesus.  As we follow the story of Christ to the cross this week I am highlighting the 4^th Word taken from Matthew 27:46 “And at the ninth hour, Jesus shouted in a loud voice, “Eloi Eloi lama sabachthani?” which is translated, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

In what sense was Jesus “forsaken” by God?  Jesus was innocent. He had done nothing to forfeit the favor of God.  He was holy, harmless, undefiled, and obedient.  God still loved Him. In none of these senses could God have forsaken Him.

Jesus took on sinful flesh and had willingly and with dignity endured immense suffering, pain, and shame for us leading up to the ninth hour.  Beyond the lacerations on His back, the thorns that still pierced His head and the nails that held Him to the cross, was the incomparably painful loss of fellowship with His heavenly Father, that His becoming engulfed in our sins and the sins of all men of all time had brought.  Sin separates man from God.  At this moment, Jesus was crying out in anguish because of the separation He now experienced from His heavenly Father for the first and only time in all of eternity.  The Father forsook the Son because the Son took upon Himself “our transgressions, … our iniquities” (Isa. 53:5).  God placed the sins of the world on His Son, and Jesus for a time felt the desolation of being unconscious of His Father’s presence.  It was at this time that “God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21).

He “who knew no sin [became] sin on our behalf” (2 Cor. 5:21) and became “a curse for us” (Gal. 3:13). “He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross” (1 Pet. 2:24), “died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust” (1 Pet. 3:18), and became “the propitiation for our sins” (1 John 4:10). 

It is also important to note that this cry “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” is a fulfillment of Psalm 22:1, one of many parallels between that psalm and the specific events of the crucifixion.  One scholar thought it could be that Jesus’ intent in quoting Psalm 22:1 was to point His hearers to that psalm so they could read Psalm 22 and see the many fulfilled prophecies included in that song of David. Even while experiencing the agony of the cross, Jesus was teaching the crowds and proving yet again that He was the Messiah who fulfilled the Scriptures.

We as Christians striving to be Christ-like must take the examples of Christ teaching and apply them to our lives today.  Jesus endured all to fulfill and complete his mission.  In the midst of and in spite of his feelings of despair, he trusted God, pressed on, and would not come down from the cross.  Each of us who has given our lives to Christ has a mission to complete for God that is orchestrated by God.  But it’s a personal thing.  We each must accept Christ for ourselves.  He made us and knows us better than we know ourselves.  We pray for God to order our steps with His word.  He knows the road ahead.  Because He Lives I Can Face tomorrow and all fear is gone.  As a Christian, you may have to travel rough roads. Must Jesus bear the cross alone and all the world go free?  Go through your trials and your test with dignity. Knowing that the mission is beyond us. There is a reason. There are things in our life that must be fulfilled. Maybe God has to take us through something to teach not only ourselves that he is a way maker but to light the path for someone else. We don’t know who will be touched, delivered, or encouraged through our testimony. We don’t know because we are not the master designer. We are followers of our Good Shepherd. 

We must stay with the pact as sheep and don’t wander off on our own path straying from God’s Word because the enemy is waiting to devour us.  Jesus was doing the father’s will when he cried out “my God my God why has Thou forsaken me”.  Make sure we are in the Will of God, that He is the shepherd of our lives, and stay there.  But thank God if we do go astray, we have an advocate with the father and can be restored.

Sometimes you will cry, but don’t quit.  Don’t lose hope.

When we are going through life and get to a place where we feel that God has left us, think again.  There is no feeling that Jesus has not experienced.  God is working it out for our good.  When we truly get to a place in our life when we put God first, above our plans…when we forsake ourselves, our agendas, we are no longer thinking about our hurt.  It’s not about us.  Whatever the Lord wants to do with us, wherever the Lord wants to send us, we’ll willingly go (just like Jesus willingly suffered for us).  Trouble don’t last always.  He won’t put more on us than we can bear.  He may not come when we want Him but he’ll be right on time.  He’s an on-time God yes He is.  Because God’s time is not necessarily our time.  We are human so we will feel anguish and maybe get to a point where we are at our wit’s end.  We may cry, but don’t quit.  Don’t give up.  Hold on.  Help is on the way.

Jesus cried out to God…we can see that no matter how distraught we feel, the mission is bigger than us.  We must hold on.  If I suffer with Jesus I shall reign with Him, I shall dwell with Him, forevermore.  Cry out if you have to, but don’t quit your mission.  Stand firm letting the devil know that you know that Jesus is right there going through it with us.  Jesus would not come down from the cross just to save himself.  He could have.  But he decided to die just to save me.  So how dare we complain and/or feel like quitting.  Jesus died that I might live.  I have eternal life because He lives.  Because He lives I can face tomorrow….all fear is gone.   Heard someone say “NO FEAR LIVES HERE.”  I am not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ…

Just like Jesus had the strength to complete his mission, we too have what it takes if we stay focused and obedient to the master, the shepherd, Jesus.  Just like Jesus would not come down off the cross…we must stand.  When we’ve done all we could to stand, stand anyway.